taking shoes off

If you are walking on Trump's marble floors in your socks and you slip can you sue him for a small fortune?

If you lie on the floor you always tend to notice that the skirting boards need dusting.

So unless you want an extra job, don't get down there.

I think there is a difference between 'clean dirt' ie garden dirt, and street dirt.

Why would I regularly deep-clean my carpets? We have chairs and sofas to sit/lie on - carpets are for walking on, with or without shoes!

(If I were to lie down on the floor a) it would be uncomfortable and b) it could take me some time to get up again...

You can tramp all you like downstairs in my house in your dirty boots bags - except in the sitting room or dining room please where I have a new carpet? But give it a year or two of shoes, DC/DGC spillages etc you'll be OK

No marble floors here but in fact you can feel the toasty warm floor in the conservatory is you take your shoes off

In my home we sit and lie on our deep pile clean silver grey carpets. I would consider it the height of bad manners for a guest to insist on wearing their outdoor shoes inside. Those who feel the need to wear shoes are welcome to bring their own slippers or use our spare ones kept for that purpose.
Can I ask those who have people traipsing over their carpets in outdoor shoes just how often they deep clean those carpets?
I frequently walk in from the garden to the kitchen in muddy boots but that is a tiled surface which gets mopped afterwards.

thatbags

Apparently, Melania Trump "makes guests to the Trump triplex cover their shoes to protect the marble floors".

Dead fashionable then to ask people to de-shoe.

I'll just carry on tramping into our hard-floored kitchen in my wellies and hiking boots then. Not all the time, you understand, just to grab something for an outside eat and drink, or some matches to start a fire. Never did follow fashion. Fancy having floors that have to be protected. People are so weird, especially rich peeps like the Trumps who could afford floors that didn't need protection.

But that would defeat the purpose of everything looking shiny new and unused and houses looking as if no-one ever did anything interesting in them, houses full of boring people who only did anything for show but had no personality, or only oersonality they were ashamed of.

A pox on shiny houses, I say. Live life like you love it, dust and all.

Wouldn't bother me, I would always offer to remove them anyway, and carry a little pair of slipper socks for cold floors. Wish our callers did the same especially in the Winter!
I am too much of a coward to ask them I am afraid. ?

DD's hens have the run of the place before they are shut up at night.


by place, I don't mean house!

Ah yes the hen poo. I forgot about that. Sticks to places you didn't know existed!!!

We haven't got any carpets or even mats, so people walk in and out as they are. Except husband and I wear wellies etc to go in the chicken run,and take them off when coming back in. Otherwise....

Well what an amazing thread. This is one of the things I love about Gransnet, the peeking into the way others lead their lives, even in seemingly humdrum ways. We seem to fall into two camps, or it is three? Those who remove, those who don't and those who assume everyone else has a cream carpet. ? Or even carpets at all.

Come to ours and its across poo strewn fields and a river to ford in summer, all on foot. A long detour in winter but still the poo and manure. At least not a Trump to be heard of on here thankfully. Ha ha.

All of my children expect people to take off their shoes in their houses. It doesn't seem to apply to here though! Still, husband's muddy wellies and dog's very muddy everything means that no one takes the cleanliness of my floors seriously! I've given up trying ?

When we lived in the north west one of the women at work was saying how annoyed she had been at guests invited to her home taking their shoes off. She thought it was really presumptuous of them to "make themselves at home" in that way. It seems that everybody has different views as to what are good and bad manners.

I would normally take my shoes off unless the hosts were absolutely emphatic that it wasn't necessary. Our Asian friends and relatives would expect us to remove our shoes and would also feel uncomfortable not taking their shoes off in our house. I would not ask people to take their shoes off but they are welcome to if they want to.

I have slippers for guests as my brother lives in Vienna and no one wears outdoor shoes in the house. My neighbours are Moslem and although they never ask me to take off my shoes I always do out of respect. My grandkids always remove their shoes as they put their feet up on the sofa. I personally think it's dirty to wear outdoor shoes on your clean floors and carpets.

Gemmag I agree! As to hygiene and babies crawling I think it is now accepted wisdom that they are healthier with a bit of dirt than in an over hygienic house. In any case they surely play outside sometimes? I think having dogs in the house is much more of a health risk (sorry, dog lovers!). And I repeat, I was told be a chiropodist that it is bad for the feet to wear slippers for any length of time. Also I live in the country and cant think of a single house where people take their shoes off, owners or guests, unless theres snow or mud involved, and of course one wipes one's feet on a mat!
If I visit someone with a light cream carpet i do ask if I should remove shoes though. If people ask me when they visit I always say no need!

Very bad manners to ask a guest to remove their shoes imo.
I have never been asked to remove my shoes and I just wouldn't.

Most people are considerate and wouldn't walk all over someone's light coloured carpets without first, having wiped their shoes properly or removing them all together.

Since when have carpets become so precious ?????.

I always take my shoes off in someone's house unless I'm wearing docs then I ask if they want me to take them off as they take ages to get off. I'm quite happy to ho barefoot at any time. in never wear tights or socks from March to November anyway.

No, unless they are muddy. I was asked to remove my shoes (soft sketchers) when I helped a friend move into her brand new house. I did so, but very quickly regretted it as the floors were a mix of hardwood and ceramic tiles. It was mid winter and I ended up barefoot and very numb! When the main movers turned up later with the bigger boxes she didn't ask them to remove their shoes, she probably knew they wouldn't! My feet were sore for days after and it has put me off for helping anyone else! Some countries insist on removing shoes on entry for religious reasons, hygiene would be the only thing I could think of, especially with a crawling infant around. I would say that you have to be prepared if you don't know the host that they might ask everyone to de-shoe themselves!

I remember walking behind my DD once, when we were coming home from school, and I saw her step in some phlegm on the pavement. It stuck to the bottom of her shoe. I was so glad we had a shoes off in the house rule. Yuk!

Sorry, notanan, I didn't make myself clear, I meant I have only ever come across one house where anyone, including the occupiers, routinely takes their shoes off as they enter the house.

I have no strong views on it, it is just a custom I have rarely come across, although I confess, like willsmadnan, I cannot see the point of having floor coverings that have to be protected from being trodden on because they show the dirt.

Yes, we had indoor and outdoor shoes at school but this was in a social environment with grown-ups (supposedly! ) Its bad enough having to take your shoes off and defy the law of gravity at airport security, but I can see the point of that ..... but if you're so paranoid about your home, don't invite anyone round. Could this be more about showing off your ' show home' than actually being hospitable?

Purple I had indoor shoes at school too, the infants were allowed normal slippers and older kids had plimsoles. I think that's a good idea actualy, kids school shoes can be very rigid, it's not healthy that they have to sit in them all day indoors, a softer soled slipper would be better for their feet. Would be an extra expense though so probably not feasable unless they doubled up their PE plimsoles as indoor shoes

How very Hyacinth! Are people so flippin' precious about their carpets that they make their guests feel like they are entering some sort of temple??

Quite the opposite actually, I find it very odd in a formal Hyacinth type of way that some people leave shoes on in houses.